Limb regeneration

[jim]

I got 5 P. waltl juvies last Thursday and all are healthy. They were raised cannabalistic and one is missing its left front and right rear legs. It had small blastemas when I got them about 2-3mm long and this morning when their light came on I could see toes! These things heal faster then anything I have ever seen. I might try to borrow a camera but I dont think an average one would catch anything that small.

 

[paris]

jim check this page out-esp the chart on it
http://cellscience.com/reviews2/Organ_Regeneration_Immune_Involvement.html

 

[jim]

Thats very informative. The little bugger now has two distinct tiny limbs that have no coloration whatsoever. It already uses them to get around. I noticed its gill nubs are not shrinking like the others, maybe it is regenerating instead of growing. This happened to a heavily damaged waltl I rescued from a pet store several years ago.Interesting stuff!

 

[paris]

yes-that happens in animals that can regenerate. all spare energy is directed at re-growth and not at growth (priorities!). this you see a lot in cannibalistic situations. many will start out at the same time, those that eat others will grow faster (the best food, i am told, is something like yourself). once one has been compromised, their growth is slowed down and the others surpass it. you see this most often with tail tips bitten off. so this gives the bigger eaters a boost to get out big and early from the pond. those that do survive cannibalism from conspecifics (and predators in wild situations) and morph out have to be a very hardy animal. not only was it able to repair itself from injury and ward off potential infection, but it was able to survive its siblings in its amputated state!...you should name her 'lucky'...

 

[mark]

I'm not sure that Pleuros should be described as cannibalistic in it's true meaning (as in Ambystoma larvae). They have big appetites and will eat anything that's the right size, however most of the injuries between siblings of similar size are caused during feeding when things get out of control. We promote un-natural behaviour in captivity by keeping them in large numbers. I guess that in the wild these sort of injuries would be far rarer and the threat of other predators greater. Injured animals do often turn out to be the toughest little critters.

 

[paris]

mark-i have seen them suck up their siblings whole too. usually they were all from the same batch but the 'weedy' thin ones were more likely to be injured by the larger conspecifics and thus had fallen behind in development. i allow for this as a captive form of natural selection, as opposed to random culling of high numbers. this way not only do they get more of the resources supplied by me in captive conditions, but the resources will not go to waste if something goes wrong with the individual organism as long as another can utilize it by consumption. to be truthful though, most cannibalism i plan for is during the early stages-usually before they get rear legs.

 

[jim]

The rear leg is almost full sized today and front leg is getting there too. She eats almost twice as much as her siblings.

 

[paris]

count the toes-she may a non standard amount

 

[jim]

Regrowth complete- 4 and 5 toes respectively, sorry Paris I know you like freaks